Regardless of who is successful in winning the Treasury benches post 7 November, Civil Contractors New Zealand will ensure the priorities and expectations of its members are well understood, writes Chief Executive Alan Pollard.
As I write this column, there are 18 days until election day, which will be just days away as you read it. The campaign is in full swing, promises are being made, who will form a coalition with whom is being debated, and the election result is still too close to call.
Wherever you sit on the political spectrum, I encourage everyone who is eligible to enrol to do so, and to cast their vote. We are fortunate to live in a democracy, but a functioning democracy relies on citizen participation – if you don’t vote you are in no position to hold our elected politicians to account.
Part of Civil Contractors New Zealand’s role in advocacy is to ensure that, regardless of who is successful in winning the Treasury benches post 7 November, the priorities and expectations of our members are well understood.
Back on 1 July, we launched our 2026 Election Manifesto. This was shaped by 13 meetings across the country and set out our members’ expectations. It explored the current challenges, how we thought they could be addressed, and what our expectations were for the incoming government. The manifesto was informed by member workshops held in each of our 12 regions, along with individual member feedback.
In short, our expectations focused on a unified, long-term approach to this country’s infrastructure planning and investment; a stable pipeline with clear, long-term accountability; nationally consistent procurement standards featuring early contractor involvement; lower regulatory and compliance burden; support for domestic apprenticeships and improved immigration settings; and a recognition of the importance of infrastructure resilience and the critical role that civil contractors play in emergency response.
With the manifesto in hand, CCNZ Communications and Advocacy Manager, Fraser May, and I met with key relevant spokespeople from National, Labour, NZ First, ACT and the Greens. Te Pāti Māori did not respond to our invitation to meet, while we caught up with the Opportunity Party at a later event. All meetings were very productive, with all spokespeople deeply engaged and interested in how they can support the industry. We have subsequently had some of them contact us to test policy ideas prior to launching their policies on the campaign trail.
These relationships are important. Whether the left or the right will be able to form a government after the election, it will be National or Labour who will be the larger parties and who will lead the coalition discussions. Both current Infrastructure Minister, Chris Bishop, and Labour Infrastructure spokesperson, Kieran McAnulty, have engaged with us extensively and clearly understand our expectations, particularly around a consistent depoliticised programme of work, and the importance of scaling back up a trained and capable workforce. This is, of course, not surprising as New Zealand’s future economic growth and productivity improvement is largely dependent on delivering on an extensive infrastructure investment programme.
Pre-election we will publish an election scorecard, comparing the policies announced by each party with the expectations contained in our election manifesto. This will provide members with a good summary upon which to judge which parties could have the biggest positive impact for our industry. The scorecard will also be used post-election to hold parties accountable for delivering on the promises they made during the campaign, particularly those that feature prominently in our manifesto. Again, that is how a democracy should work.
Post-election, we will produce our Briefing for Incoming Ministers (BIMs). These are typically prepared for incoming ministers following the formation of a new government (whether there has been a change of government or not). A BIM will be prepared for each incoming minister who holds a portfolio that impacts our industry in some way (infrastructure, education, vocational education, etc).
They will include a high-level summary of the industry, a reflection on the laws and regulations the minister is responsible for administering and how effective they are, an outline of urgent, ongoing, or emerging challenges along with potential solutions (consistent with our manifesto), and any highlights to showcase some of the incredible work that civil contractors do every day. Typically, incoming ministers will be inundated with these, so ours will need to be short, snappy, and memorable.
Needless to say, things will change depending on who forms the next government. However, I am confident CCNZ is well placed regardless of who wins the election and forms the next coalition government. Our strategic partnership with Awhi Group, informed by the CCNZ team and branches, and working with Fraser and me to execute our advocacy strategy, has elevated our profile in Wellington and connected us with the right people, both in Parliament and across the bureaucracy.
We are getting traction on many points raised by members, from procurement, soil management and fill sites to the work programme. We are in regular discussion with relevant politicians across the spectrum on issues ranging from Resource Management Act reform to transport projects. And I can say with confidence that CCNZ is recognised as a trusted, reliable, credible and influential partner. We do not take that position of responsibility lightly and continue to work across the political spectrum to preserve that privileged position.
While advocacy is not always visible, and for some particularly smaller members the benefit of advocacy may not always be obvious, maintaining good relationships with key decision-makers and keeping a strong profile across the political spectrum is crucial to supporting a healthy civil construction industry.
Election 2026: steady as she goes for infrastructure policy?